Kevin Spacey: 'There's a degree of Frank Underwood at the BBC'

Speaking at Davos, the House of Cards actor explained that machiavellian
antics happened in all walks of life

Kevin Spacey speaks at Davos in 2016

By Alice Vincent, Entertainment Writer

5:39PM GMT 22 Jan 2016

Fictional US President Frank Underwood is known for his Machiavellian method of rising to the top, but Kevin Spacey, who plays him, says that such traits could even occur in the BBC.

Speaking of underhand tactics, Spacey told James Harding, the BBC's director of news and current affairs: "It's not just politics. You're the BBC, right? I'm sure there's a degree of Underwoodian-ness there."

He continued: "Or in an electric company or a car business. It's always about who's at the top, who's at the bottom. Who decides, who's in power."

Spacey spoke about House of Cards, politics and current presidential race in the US to the CEO-packed World Economic Forum in Davos.

He said that Underwood would be amused by the campaign: "I think in the first place that Donald Trump.... uh, sorry, that Frank Underwood..." before getting drowned out in laughs.

"I think Frank Underwood would look at this particular year and find it as amusing as I do," he said.

He added that some politicians found House of Cards a little close to home: "I'll talk to politicans who will say, '[House of Cards] is completely fictional. [Politics] is not like that' and others will say, 'it's closer to the truth than anyone will know.'"

The fourth season of House of Cards will air on Netflix on March 4 2016.